The Villa Sacchetti, also called Castello Chigi, is a historical building at Castelfusano, near

Ostia Antica Ostia Antica () is an ancient Roman city and the port of Rome located at the mouth of the Tiber. It is near modern Ostia, southwest of Rome. Due to silting and the invasion of sand, the site now lies from the sea. The name ''Ostia'' (the pl ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. It was built in 1624-1629 for the Sacchetti family, close associates of

Pope Urban VIII Pope Urban VIII (; ; baptised 5 April 1568 – 29 July 1644), born Maffeo Vincenzo Barberini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 August 1623 to his death, in July 1644. As pope, he expanded the papal terri ...

, and was the first architectural work of

Pietro da Cortona Pietro da Cortona (; 1 November 1596 or 159716 May 1669) was an Italian Baroque painter and architect. Along with his contemporaries and rivals Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Francesco Borromini, he was one of the key figures in the emergence of Roman ...

. The villa is now known as Castello Chigi since its acquisition by the Chigi family in the 18th century.

Description

The villa has a generally fortified appearance; it is block-like with corner bastions and has a belvedere terrace at the top; there were occasional attacks by pirates along the coast. The plan layout, recorded in drawings by

Pier Leone Ghezzi Pier Leone Ghezzi (28 June 1674 – 6 March 1755) was an Italian Rococo painter, draughtsman, printmaker and Caricature, caricaturist who was mainly active in Rome. While he painted decorative frescoes and created a new type of anecdotal and r ...

(circa 1735), is simple and straightforward and lacks the formal inventiveness of Cortona's later architectural work, including the Villa Pigneto del Marchese Sacchetti. The ground level has a central hall with staircase and was otherwise given over to service rooms. On the third level, there is a gallery spanning the length of the building with frescoes by Cortona and other artists of the time including

Andrea Sacchi Andrea Sacchi (30 November 159921 June 1661) was an Italian painter of High Baroque Classicism, active in Rome. A generation of artists who shared his style of art include the painters Nicolas Poussin and Giovanni Battista Passeri, the sculptor ...

. There is also a chapel decorated by Cortona.Zirpolo, 2005, 85-92

References

Houses completed in the 17th century Buildings and structures in Rome S Pietro da Cortona buildings {{Italy-struct-stub